


Lightning Wash

by notabadday



Category: Firefly
Genre: F/M, Pre-Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-11
Updated: 2013-09-11
Packaged: 2017-12-26 08:21:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,265
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/963714
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notabadday/pseuds/notabadday
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zoe warms up to Wash.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lightning Wash

The first time, it was an accident. Well, if a kiss can be accidental. It certainly wasn't premeditated.

 Wash had soon enough proved his mettle. Zoe softened to him a little more with each passing close call and, though she never let him know it, each witty aside. She saw him as a valuable asset to the ship. He kept out of trouble, did his job impressively and he had a little soft spot for her, which she didn't mind so long as he kept his focus. Truth was, it was flattering. Between all the jobs and the gun fighting, it was nice to come back to a person as refreshingly good-humoured as Wash.

 The kiss, though, that was another thing entirely. It had happened after a particularly adrenaline-fuelled job, and Wash had saved them from the brink of likely death. Problem was, alive or not, the crew was down to their last credit and fast running out of fuel and supplies — at least, that's as far as Mal, Zoe and Jayne knew.

 “If I could add a little twist to this tale of woe,” Wash said as Mal solemnly announced their likely starvation, “Kaylee and I don’t just sit around while you’re off being action heroes. Been bundling up a little insurance booty of our own. You know.” He grinned. “Just in case.”

 Already standing unusually close to him, Zoe kissed Wash hard on the mouth. The euphoria of somehow escaping the job without a bullet wound, and the relief of credit enough for a box of fresh fruit proved enough motivation for such a move.

 "All the gorram times I saved your life – not a single kiss!” Mal muttered, with as much amusement as surprise in his voice.

 Zoe gave a mildly horrified look to the captain as she caught her breath.

 Wash looked at Mal with a grin. "Well, Captain, I do have the boyish charm thing..."

 "Rather a man than a boy," growled Jayne.

 "Remind me, who was it that just got a kiss from the lady?" Wash said, looking pleased with himself as Jayne grunted in annoyance and followed the captain out of the bridge. Zoe, meanwhile, looked keen to make an exit of her own.

 "Good work." She gave him an awkwardly formal nod of the head.

 "Good work," he repeated, wearing his goofiest grin. It didn't leave his face till it hit the pillow.

 Much as he’d liked to, Wash didn’t push for a second kiss, just waited on her, more hopeful than was safe to be. He'd done okay in that first one, considering there were people watching and all. Zoe thought so too. She'd thought on it a lot, in fact.

 It wasn't just his lips that left Zoe a little preoccupied. His blue eyes were so open and innocent – something sort of beautiful about them, in a way. In her mind, his smile was sunshine - warm and bright and just for her. She thought of his arms, and she thought about them heavy-lifting, toned and strong. The rest she wondered about.

 He seemed to have an innate ability to know just what to do around her. Zoe was all stoicism and stillness and he was her perfect opposite. He was animated and talkative, always had something to say for himself, but he did sense when not to speak. After one particular job went awry and the ensuing gunfire killed a civilian, Zoe and the captain kept their distance on the ship. Wash didn’t come to her with his usual imagined tale of their day, or an exaggerated tale of his own. He brought a plate of food and let her alone. Following day, he did the same but lingered a little longer in case she wanted company. She didn’t. But the day after that, she listened for nigh on an hour to silly anecdotes from his flight school days.

 He always knew what she needed, and was sensitive to it. She could tell that he was keen to please her. Wash had none of the brashness of Jayne, none of the solemnity of Mal. He was happy and caring, so why would she regret kissing him? Why _not_ make a habit of it?

 She found him alone on the bridge one day and set to it. Wash was putting his toy dinosaurs back in their place when she came in. She smiled, reaching out for one. Leaning against the controls, strategically avoiding pressing any wrong buttons, she played with the dinosaur in her hands, trying to think up a good conversation-starter.

 "On course?"

 "Should reach Persephone this time tomorrow."

 "That soon?"

 "That soon. In flight school, they called me Lightning Wash."

 "Did they really?" Zoe said, indulging him.

 "Well, one did once. I was light aircraft flying in a thunderstorm. Lightning burned the nose of the thing clean off. Still, made a hasty trip of it after that."

 She smiled, while he feigned indignation.

 "I'm glad you enjoyed that little tale. Nightmares, that gave me!"

 "You seem to have held together just fine."

 "You noticed."

 "Been noticin’ a lot of things about you," Zoe said, in such a way that it made Wash's eyebrows suddenly hike up.

 "Yeah?" Wash replied, disbelieving.

 She nodded and said, while turning the dinosaur over in her hands nervously, "Thought I'd come up here... notice a few more things."

 He was grinning more confidently now, relaxed by her admission.

 Wash reached for the plastic stegosaurus,  taking ahold of her hand and pulling her a little closer to him. He wouldn't push his luck, but just a little closer. With her free hand on his shoulder, Zoe leant down to meet his eye level. She held his gaze there for a time, looking into his eyes as he anticipated her kiss. When she finally did kiss him, she was passionate about it. After a brief pause in brain activity, Wash happily returned her affection.

 Without any thought to it, Zoe moved herself to his lap, keen to eliminate any distance between them. As she sat, she felt him beneath her and moaned into his kiss. As she moved her hands roughly through his hair, his own were low on her back, keeping her body tight against his. She smiled against his lips as she felt him feel the curve of her bottom.

 Zoe then pulled away, for more than just to catch her breath. She wanted to take him in. She observed the lines of his face when he smiled, a close-up she'd never enjoyed before. She hadn't seen anyone look quite so happy as Wash did right that moment since before the war, if she was honest about it. _She_ felt happy too. She felt happy with him.

 Wash interrupted her thinking, suddenly exclaiming, "Aiya!"

 His attention was no longer on her and his hand reached out urgently for his controls. Their passionate embrace had knocked the ship a little off-route. "Seems we got a little romantically reckless there. You're quite the distraction."

 "In that case, I better leave you to it. Don't want the captain walking in on us christening the pilot's chair."

 "Okay," Wash replied, a little disappointed.

 She left him, adding a little jaunt to her step just for his benefit. Wash watched, moving a hand to cover his astonishment. As soon as she was out of sight, he began to doubt whether it had happened at all.

 That night, after the captain and the rest of the crew were asleep in their bunks, Zoe appeared at the entrance to Wash's bunk with confirmation that it did…

**Author's Note:**

> Please let me know what you think.


End file.
